1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to computer systems. More particularly, it is directed to the protection of electronic content within a computing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
To combat unauthorized consumption of content, some content owners have adopted an approach to protecting their content known as digital rights management (“DRM”), which may include various techniques for limiting access of electronic content to authorized individuals and/or enforcing other restrictions on the use of such content. Typically, clear content that is to be protected by DRM is encoded and packaged into an encrypted form. At packaging time, the packaging unit responsible for packaging content may utilize various types of encryption algorithms for encrypting content. In some cases, these encryption algorithms may encrypt content based on a cryptographic key, which may be selected or generated in a random fashion. At some point, the encrypted content may be provided to an electronic device associated with a content consumer. For instance, the consumer may pay a one-time fee or a recurring subscription fee to access the content electronically. To view the content in unencrypted form on the consumer's electronic device, the device may be required to obtain a respective content license that includes the correct cryptographic key for decrypting the content or means to securely acquire the cryptographic key.
In some cases, the decryption of content by client devices may not be an inconsequential undertaking. For instance, some lightweight devices (e.g., some handheld devices and mobile phones) may expend a significant quantity of available computing resources when decrypting and consuming content.